Risk factors associated with dizziness during treatment of mucosal leishmaniasis with meglumine antimoniate: 16-year retrospective study of cases from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

To evaluate dizziness in patients receiving meglumine antimoniate for the treatment of mucosal leishmaniasis. We retrospectively studied 127 patients treated at the Laboratory of Leishmaniasis Surveillance, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 1 January 1989 and 31 December 2004. A low dose of meglumine antimoniate (5 mg/kg/day) was used in 86.6 per cent of patients; a dose of 10 mg/kg/day or higher was used in 13.4 per cent of patients. Dizziness was reported by 4.7 per cent of patients. The adjusted odds ratios were 7.37 for dizziness in female patients, 4.9 for dizziness in patients aged 60 years or older, and 7.77 for dizziness in the presence of elevated serum lipase. We suggest that dizziness may be a side effect of meglumine antimoniate, particularly in elderly individuals, in females and in patients with elevated serum lipase.